


Community Soak

by ScifiRice



Category: Those Who
Genre: Casual, F/M, NSFW, Public Nudity, alien - Freeform, bathhouse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 10:43:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15604563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScifiRice/pseuds/ScifiRice
Summary: An alien visiting her lover on his homeworld gets to nervously experience a part of his race's culture as amphibians that need to stay hydrated.





	Community Soak

Being raised on a desert planet like Pagalba never really prepared me for living on a planet like Tevis. The majority of the planet is a massive swamp with trees hundreds of feet thick and stretching hundreds more into the sky. The canopy made it always look like its overcast, the only light being whatever can shine through the gaps in the leaves. The water below was rather clear along the public waterways. It is never as deep as an ocean, you can almost always see the bottom.

The Oltaiv who live in the swamp are a strange but friendly species as well. Salamander-like folk with numerous fleshy spikes and spots on their limbs, back, and tail that glowed a rainbow of colors. Their internal bacteria are all bioluminescent, and the colors of the spots and spikes determined what color the light from their bodies are. On their heads are several bony grey plates, sometimes they have them and sometimes they don’t.

Lately I have taken to spending an awful lot of time at my boyfriend’s home on Tevis. Being a reptilian gudrian, it took some adjusting to get used to being here. So long as it doesn’t get too cold, I’m fine. We don’t handle the cold very well.

Yvin is not any oltaiv, he is the ambassador for the oltaiv species. A job he reluctantly accepted after the previous ambassador passed away. It’s his job to be a middleman between his species, and the rest of the galaxy. No important action involving aliens will happen without going through him first. Thankfully things have been rather calm and Yvin was able to take some time off.

His home is modest, about the size of an upscale apartment. Not well decorated either, luckily I intend to fix that at a later date. Right now, the both of us are standing beside his hydration tub. Oltaiv need to stay hydrated and have special tubs for them to soak in when needed. And right now, his was filthy. 

The water filter had broken while he was away for work. I can see his light green skin is a bit pale and his purple glow is dim. Yvin is conversing with another oltaiv who he hired to fix it. He is holding the broken filter that looks scorched all over.

“Darn thing must have short-circuited. Luckily all the water inside stopped it from bursting into flames. If you had been in the water when it happened, you probably would have gotten shocked too.” The mechanic said.  
“Well, that’s going to make soaks in here terrifying from now on.” Yvin said as he looked at the scorched device.  
“It’s a manufacturing glitch. One in every four thousand or so would have it.” the mechanic said.  
“Okay, this thing was an older model anyway. Been here since I moved in. I’ll just have it replaced. How soon can you get another one installed?” Yvin asked.  
“Should take me a few hours once it arrives. But that could take days.” The oltaiv said.  
“Was hoping it could be sooner than that…. Alright, go talk to my bodyguard for the details and the ordering. I need to go find a soak somewhere else.” Yvin said.  
“Yeah, you look like you need it.” the oltaiv said as he walked out of the room.

Yvin stood by the edge of the tub, deep in thought. Then he pulled out his communicator and tapped on the holographic screen. I couldn’t tell what he was typing, but he opened an app used to find and get directions to places. Then he looked towards me and focused on my mechanical legs.

Due to many birth defects I have, much of my body is cybernetic. Most of my vital organs, my legs, and my eyes are all mechanical. I may not enjoy being so robotic, but I would be dead otherwise. So I try not to complain that much.

“Are your legs waterproof?” Yvin asks as he points towards them.  
“Yes, I built them myself and I made sure to consider that.” I reply.  
“I found a place where I can re-hydrate. A community poolhouse not far from here. Wanna come with me?” Yvin asked.  
“Absolutely! I’ll grab my swimwear.” I reply happily.  
“Oh don’t worry, you won’t need that. These pools are heated around this time of the year.” He says as he taps on his communicator to bring up the directions.  
“D…. Do you mean we’ll be naked in there?” I ask nervously.  
“Don’t worry, everyone who goes there does it too. Helps us hydrate faster. You’ll be fine.” Yvin says to reassure me.

I’m not insecure about how my body looks. While I would rather much have normal-looking legs than these mechanical ones, I’m pretty comfortable with myself. Only issue is that I am not comfortable being nude in a public place. Even if my genetalia is hidden inside my slit the majority of the time.

But from what I’ve seen of these hydration pools in the past. These should be small individual rooms with one or two pools each. I could stand being in that. So I agree to go with him. He takes me by the hand and leads me out the door.

Soon we are driving along the water in the high-tech airboats most of the population uses. Driving us is Kinu, Yvin’s bodyguard and unwilling third wheel in our relationship. A muscular oltaiv with a cybernetic arm containing a concealed weapon. While The Conglomerate does have a dedicated force to protecting the ambassadors, a personal bodyguard is required at all times. Yvin would carry a weapon as well if he weren’t abysmal at handling one.

We near the poolhouse, it’s a large concrete structure embedded into the side of a massive tree. These trees can easily survive such buildings so they were very common. The top of the building that’s exposed is a glass dome looking up at the canopy. Kinu parks the airboat and we step onto the rather muddy dock. 

The front of the poolhouse has oltaiv lettering engraved in it. My translators claim it means “Oasis In The Trees” How do these aliens have a word for oasis if there isn’t a single desert on this planet? Kinu walks in front of us as we enter the building. The lobby is quaint, a small fast-food joint is behind a door to the left that we might stop by on our way out. There is seating used by several oltaiv likely waiting for others to arrive. And a security guard who immediately notices us and walks up.

She asks us to show her our permits for bringing cybernetics into the facilities. An understandable precaution, not all prosthetics are waterproof. I point to small symbol welded on my right thigh to show the permit for my legs and Kinu does the same for his arm. The security guard notices that Kinu’s arm is a combat model and asks him to remove it for the safety of others. Kinu Instead pulls out a badge and shows it to the guard. She goes wide-eyed and glances at Yvin, her jaw drops a bit. She tells Kinu to disregard her request before rushing over to who I presume to be the owner and whispering in her ear. The well-dressed oltaiv walks over to us with her hands clasped and yellow glow being particularly more radiant. 

“We’re honored to host you this fine day Ambassador Ail. Sorry about that, it’s hard to recognize you without your ambassadorial garb.” She says with a smile.  
“No problem. I’m taking time off anyway. I’m here for a soak and I brought my friend along. I trust that won’t be an issue?” Yvin asks as he puts his hand on my shoulder.  
“Absolutely not. You three enjoy yourselves!” She says.

She steps back to continue her work, but also to keep an eye on us to ensure we’re satisfied. We get three keys for lockers from the front desk and head off through a pair of doors. A short hallway leads us to a locker room, thankfully its empty at the moment. We find our lockers and strip down, I quickly tie a towel around my waist before locking away my clothes. Once we’re all ready, I step through the entrance to the pools. Or so I thought there would be multiple pools.

My face quickly turns orange as I blush at the scene before me. It’s a massive indoor pool with a dozen or so oltaiv inside, and they are all naked. Just about all of them glance at me, some staring for a bit before turning away. But why wouldn’t they, I’m an orange-faced, grey lizard with robot legs wearing nothing but a towel. 

Aside from that, the pool looks actually very serene. The pool is shallow and decorated with ornate tiles, the sides are all a ledge for others to sit on, the ceiling is high and the walls are lined with decorative columns. The entire place looks like it’s made of marble. It’s not loud at all either, I can hear a few groups of oltaiv talking to each other, but the majority are simply enjoying their time in the water. But it’s hard to appreciate that when I can’t get over the fact that everyone is naked.

Yvin grabs my hand and leads me to the edge of the pool. Kinu says he’s going to give us some privacy and will watch us from the other side. Yvin removes his towel and hangs it on a hook before sitting in the water. He looks up at me and beckons me to do the same.

I look around to see if anyone is watching, I don’t immediately see anyone but I doubt they are all ignoring me since I’m the only alien in here. I breathe in and quickly hang up my towel before sitting next to Yvin while keeping my crotch covered with my hands. The water is refreshing and unfortunately, very clear. Yvin wraps an arm around me when he notices I’m uncomfortable.

“What’s wrong?” He asks.  
“When you said I wouldn’t need any swimwear, I thought you meant that we would be somewhere more private….” I say nervously.  
“Sorry about that. But don’t worry. We’re just two normal folk hanging out in a hydration pool. Everyone else is in the same boat. Only difference is that you’re the only non-oltaiv here.” He says to comfort me.  
“I know…. I’m just embarrassed that I’m naked in public like this.” I say.  
“Hey, if you’re not okay with this. We can leave.” Yvin says.  
“No, no. I…. I can handle this. I just need to adjust is all.” I say.  
“Okay, well the offer is still open if you can’t.” Yvin says.

I’m trying to calm down. He is right in how casual all of this is, nothing sexual about this at all. There is even a sign behind me stating that sexual acts are forbidden in this pool, though something tells me there are pools without this rule somewhere. I try to focus my attention elsewhere.

Not far from me are two oltaiv almost entirely submerged beneath the water with their eyes closed and looking relaxed. I can see a female oltaiv standing up and talking with her friend who is also standing, both are only submerged halfway up their thighs. Someone walks in front of me and glances at my legs, he comments on how they look neat. I thank him as he walks away.

Soon, I’m able to feel comfortable enough to move my hands away from my crotch. Crossing my legs should do fine. I can feel Yvin’s prehensile tail wrap around my less flexible tail. He scoots closer to me and holds me close. I can see the color has mostly returned to his skin and glow. I finally feel calm, maybe even relaxed.

“Hey, let’s go check out the part under the dome.” Yvin suggests.

What!? No! I just got comfortable here! If we move now, I don’t think I can cover myself. 

But before I can object, I’m already agreeing. Why do I do this to myself!? Next thing I know, we’re both standing up and wading around to a larger area. Yvin is tightly gripping my hand as he leads me along. 

We walk into a new section of the pool, leading to new strangers noticing me. Instead of sitting along the edge again, Yvin decides to settle for a spot in the middle of the pool. The water was uniformly shallow before, but out here it gets deeper. Now it’s up to my chest and I have to stand up straight to stay above the water. No way to cover myself casually like I could before without shamefully using my hands again. My face is orange once more as I try to ignore the oltaiv around me who are possibly staring. Yvin points up towards the dome, I slowly look upwards to avert my gaze from seeing anyone else.

I look up through the dome, but it’s not normal glass. It’s a giant lens looking out into the trees. The canopy I can only vaguely see from the surface is now much clearer. I can see the bugs crawling along the huge leafs as they sway in the wind. The detail in the bark on the branches looks different from the tree bark down here. It is oddly beautiful.

My heart finally seems to stop beating so fast as my face returns to its normal grey color. The water feels good on my scales and the idle sounds of the pool relax my ears. While I’d still prefer to be wearing something, this is nice. Just swimming with my lover and learning his alien culture. Maybe one day I could stand to come back to this place.


End file.
